The Driver’s Seat, by Muriel Spark, also made into a film starring Liz Taylor. The book is funny, strange, suspenseful story of a seemingly unbalanced young English woman who goes on a sudden trip to Rome in search of “her type” of man. Told with use of prolepsis (sudden, and brief flash forwards) that foreshadow the books grisly end, it is much a story of a madness as a crucifixion tale, a complex examination of the relationship between victim and victimizer. Spark, who wrote a number of thrillers–and regarded herself as a Catholic allegorist–did not exactly please her fans with this tale. The movie starring Liz Taylor has been panned as one of the worst performance of her career, during a period in which she appeared in a lot of films that disappointed her audience, but her performance in this film is pretty much spot on. True, the film doesn’t have the same suspense as the novel, and their are nuances of paradox in the heroine’s quest–and the murder’s motivation–that don’t quite come off in the film, but it’ still worth pretty good: maybe more so if you’ve read the book. This is one of Spark’s more interesting novels, and Taylor at her flossiest, sexiest, and enigmatic best. DS

That cop is shooting at me, he guessed; then, before he realized he’d been hit, he was hit again, his neck snapped backward, and the crowd went silent, watching, as he fell against the outfield grass.

No one reads the fiction of graphic design legend William Addison Dwiggins, because it is impossible to find. I stumbled upon this material while putting together a post on Dwiggins on 50 Watts.

BookTryst: “The small books Dwiggins produced at his private press Püterschein-Hingham have a wonderful mix of experimental type, page layout and illustration. The War Against Waak (1948) shows, in the writing, his admiration for his contemporary, Lord Dunsany.” (Pictured above are the cover and an illustration from this book.)

Bruce Kennett, from his article The Private Press Activities of William Addison Dwiggins: “Armed with a sharp wit and an insightful appreciation of human nature, Dwiggins (‘WAD’) often used humor to drive home points that he wished to make about serious topics. He produced articles and essays under his own name or that of his imaginary colleague, Dr. Hermann Püterschein. He wrote plays for his marionettes, then watched as they were performed in a purpose-built theater of his own design. Dwiggins also wrote a series of fantasy tales—‘The Athalinthia Stories, translated from the Metrelingua Permé and extended with Images and Diagrams’—that captured the sights and scents of exotic places while regarding human aspirations and foibles with particular tenderness and Puckish humor. His personal work was peppered with references to literary classics, revealing his own passions for this subject. All of these activities found expression in his private press work.”

Gregory Corso, Italian American poet and writer, born in Greenwhch Village, lived in SF many years, buried in Rome

From “Woodstock Journal”

“Around two hundred people were present in the so-called “English Cemetery” in Rome, Italy, on Saturday morning, May 5, to pay their last respects to Gregory Corso. The poet’s ashes were buried in a tomb precisely in front of the grave of his great colleague Shelley, and not far from the one of John Keats…

Allen Ginsberg on his death-bed with Gregory Corso at his loft in the East Village, April 4, 1997 (a few hours before his death).. Gregory asked me if he should stay or go. I told him he had to make that choice himself. He left, but asked me to call him if anything happened. After Allen passed, I called Gregory. He had just woken up. “I knew something happened,” he said. “I’ll be right over.”

More dorothy Hughes, author of “In a Lonely Place,” The ExpendableMan" and numerous noir classics, recipient of Yale Younger Poets Award and Edgar from MWA for lifetime achievement, an unlikely achievement outside of maybe Robert Politio, poet and author of Savage Art, exquisite bio of Jim Thompson. The borders between genres and lit and pulp collapse. That said, I’ve not read this book and no idea if any good. But might be worth a look. Some one should write a bio slash crit work of Hughes, a noir master if only for the works mentioned and Ride the Pink Horse